I suspect you have seen today’s news bulletins covering Macmillan Cancer Support’s report predicting a significant rise in the number of people who will get cancer. To quote the opening lines of their statement today:

Cancer rates are increasing at such a rate that research shows 42% of people who die in this country will have had a cancer diagnosis. And for most of them (64%), it is cancer which causes their death.

Macmillan calls for better services and support for those with cancer. Fergus Walsh on his BBC blog emphasises the need for people to take more personal responsibility for their health. Cancer Research UK has been quoted as also emphasising the prevention message saying that half of all cancers could be prevented by better diet, stopping smoking etc. They are all right of course. As is also the message that we need to continue to fund cancer research if we are to ultimately secure new and ever-better treatments.

Similar comments were made yesterday at the excellent All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer hearing about the impact on cancer of the NHS reforms. I am sure that some rule to do with Chatham Docks prevents me from directly reporting the comments by the panel – Peter Johnson from Cancer Research UK, Jennifer Dixon from Nuffield, Heather Nathan (patient) and Dr Steve Field (GP and Chair of the NHS Future Forum) – or audience. But hopefully their insights will be appropriately incorporated in the final report of the Group on Commissioning expected later this year.

For the moment then, just two thoughts of my own:

It is pretty evident that for many patients – and not just those with cancer – the opportunity to benefit from new treatments and trials is often dependent on their own strength, determination and gall. It should not be like this. There is still a gaping need for better information to be provided and for patients to be better supported by health professionals and others on their patient journey to remove the element of ‘chance’ in their care.

We need to overcome this notion that somehow research is outside the remit of service commissioning or commissioners. It has to be integrated with the decision-making that sits behind such activity. While the changes to the Health and Social Care Bill which will mean new duties on GPs etc with regard to promoting and using research are good news, how we ensure this happens in practice is the unanswered question as yet.

In the closing stages of the meeting the panel were asked to identify the one significant challenge and opportunity arising out of the reforms. The challenges ranged from ‘money’ to safeguarding continuous patterns of care for people. The opportunities include the development of IT systems that enable better care, to developing a more responsive system.

And if there is one positive from Macmillan’s report today it is perhaps that the increasing numbers of cancer patients will mean a greater pull on the system to meet their needs better.

…and in other news:

I was delighted to see the following statement on NIHR’s website about the fact that NIHR funding will be considered alongside Research Council funding in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2014. The new guidance also states that applied and practice-based research must be assessed on an equal basis with other types of research. This will ensure full recognition for the clinical and applied research which NIHR funds. In other words it is a strategically very important news.